Life Anew
by Bracket the Indecie
Summary: Ronon refuses to let McKay sacrifice himself for a potentially massive discovery inside a Wraith facility, and when John does the unthinkable, the two are forced to strike out on their own. M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

"Rodney, get out of there! You've got five Wraith heading straight for you!" John called down the radio with a great degree of urgency.

"I'm almost done!" He replied, determined. His face was an expression of resigned courage, he knew what he was facing, and though it wasn't the way he would choose to go, but if it meant he finished his work here then it would be worth it.

"There must be something we can do!" Teyla said in frustration, all they could do was sit in the Jumper and watch the unfriendly red dots gets closer to the lonely blue one.

"You can't go," He denied her before she even suggested it, her bandages already soaked in bloody from the metal rod embedded in her leg painfully. "If we go and try to rescue him, and get caught or killed by the Wraith, then no one will be able to transfer the data back to Atlantis and he'll have done it all for nothing." John said, facing forward, looking at the screen in the military emotionless stare. It had to be done. "I'm the only one who can fly the Jumper. It was his choice. He knew the risks." He said, sounding as if he were lamenting his scientist friend before the certainty of his death.

"We never should have let him go alone in the first place." Ronon growled. He was rocking back and forth in his seat as though he made the motion to stand, but couldn't and fell back down again, only to question his choice. However, it was not long before he actually did get up, readied his gun and run out of the back of the Jumper, full pelt down the corridor of the facility.

"Ronon!" Teyla called out after him, lunging forward instinctively, reaching out to him, but he own body forced her back and into a wince of pain.

"He made his choice." John said, furiously fighting the urge to lock and load himself, but two things stopped him. His sense of duty for one, the information they took back to Atlantis would be incredible, they could protect the city for decades to come and keep the Wraith away. Secondly, it was a far more selfish level, part of the data being streamed into the Jumper was part of a Replicator storage capsule the Wraith had salvaged from a fragmented ship, lost during their renewed war and probably contained everything Rodney needed to rescue Elizabeth and bring her back to Atlantis safely. His stubborn heart exhumed a coldness for other things as he slowly caved into his own desire to have Elizabeth back. Teyla called to him, her voice begging for him to act, but he froze and refused to do anything.

Ronon, for once, was not concentrated on adding to his kill count. For the first time in what felt like years, that was not his driving purpose, something had been roused in him; the last time he had felt it was when he watched Her die in front of that perversely bright window. His heart quailed for Her then, as it did for his friend now. Most Wraith only received a single shot and were able to regenerate and return to normality in a few minutes, but he just needed to clear a path, make a hole, whatever you want to call it. He reached the grubby door later than he would have preferred, but in better time than he thought he was going to make. The guards before it posed no trouble to the near-raging Satedan, but his blood was made to boil as he heard the screams coming from inside, the unmistakable gasping yelps of the scientist who so bravely, yet with so much pain, was meeting his end. _Like hell if I'm going to let Wraith kill him!_ He roused himself, opened the door and pumped three shots on the maximum setting into the spectating Wraith. There was only one left, and he had wrenched his bloodied hand away from Rodney's pounding chest at the intrusion.

"Ah, the Satedan Runner." Came the arrogant taunt of the revitalised beast. Rodney collapsed to the floor, Ronon's gaze following the path of the body. The Doctor was still alive, but five years at least had been robbed of him, a small patch of hair had gone white from the stress and his face contorted with pain. "They said you try to take on Wraith without a weapon. How foolish, you are too weak." In truth, the Wraith was provoking the rash man into an equally as rash move so that he may be easily conquered and fed upon, yet Ronon was not in this mood.

"Just shut up and die." He said, as though bored and shot it down, but his trademark temper returned and he did not relent in firing shots into the head of the creature, until he was shooting the floor and Rodney could just about choke out,

"I think it's dead." This brought Ronon back to reality and resisting the urge to spit on the corpse (he thought it would be a waste of saliva) went over to help prop up the still shocked McKay.

"You alright?" Came the question.

"No, but you came to save me." He said, annoyed at the obvious answer to Ronon's question, but this soon being outweighed and forgotten by the realisation that it was just the Satedan who had saved him. He did not have much time to ponder the deeper complexities of the issue as he lost consciousness.

This panicked the rescuer, he had just come all this way, and not in terms of the run from the Jumper to the main lab, for Rodney to die at the end of it all?! Not a chance in bloody fracking hell! Knowing that he did not kill all the Wraith on his way, let alone all those in the facility, he decided to swing the body over his shoulder, leaving one arm free to fire shots at any creatures who dare to threaten him or the fragile life in his charge.

However, to his relief and disappointment, he knew he would get little chance to bump up his kill count because a low, whiny alarm sounded throughout the facility and Ronon knew that, cowards the Wraith were, they would all be fleeing as he stood for a moment in thought. On the other hand, this meant that the chances of Rodney's body coming into an unfortunate encounter with unfriendly fire were greatly reduced, and that gave him consolation over lost numbers and a determination to move on.


	2. Chapter 2

Ronon's friendship with John was a comradeship that went deeper than just friendship; it was a sense of kinship more than anything, nothing sordid, but he once felt brothership between them. Recently, since the Replicator attack on Atlantis and the moving from Lantea, the man had changed, on a deep and far darker level than Ronon thought he would. Sheppard had retreated far more into himself, lost his gentle tolerance that once defined him, and the Satedan could see the darkness in his eyes; an unspoken resentment and bitterness about something, but John had shut everyone out so completely that Ronon could not fathom what it was.

He knew by John's willingness to leave Rodney behind that the empty space should have come as no surprise, but it still felt like a betrayal, and he let the world know with a great roar of pain and frustration.

The Jumper was gone, it was not cloaked, but gone, John had taken Teyla and the data back to the city and left them to die. For all John had talked of before, about being oneself, Ronon had done what he had to but it seemed an undue punishment. Any time John 'had' to do something, they had all been roped into helping, but the time Ronon _needed_ to strike out and take action, John had struck out and left. He did not see that as a fair trade. Yet for all the time he would have wanted to stand there and scream at the injustices of the universe, the whine of darts zipped through his ears and with a glance at the skies, took to run into the nearest cover. The facility had been set on an abandoned world, so dense forest had sprung up around it, and Ronon prayed to find somewhere safe to hide until Rodney was recovered enough to walk to the Gate, or the Wraith had left – whichever came first.

The flight into the forest was mostly unhindered, but he could hear the stomping of troops for some time and did not stop moving until he could hear them no more, and with Rodney's dead weight seeming to get increasingly heavy this proved a far more difficult task that it had been at the start. The adrenaline supply was beginning to run dry and his thirst became grating to his throat. After what felt like hours of staggering and running, he decided to settle down and when looking for a place to rest out of sight, he came across a dark shadow in the steep incline of this hill in the forest, smiling to discover it lead to a small earthy natural cavern inside.

Groaning in relief, he very carefully laid Rodney's body down on the earth and slumped against the wall, massaging his killing shoulder and flexing his fingers which had been tightly clasping for however long he had been on the move. Without meaning to, and against all the promises he made to himself to the latter, Ronon fell asleep, exhausted by the running and the haul, as well as the sense of betrayal John had left him with.

##

"Well, Radek, can you use it?" John demanded impatiently, he had only given the Czech a few moments to peruse the basics of the data on the pad and wanted instant results.

"Most probably so, but it will take time to convert the Wraith and Replicator programs for use with ours and make sure it is safe." He replied, inwardly rolling his eyes at the immediacy of the military when they did not know the size of the questions they were asking.

"Get on with it then!" He said and stormed out. Radek blinked after him. He was being very raw, what was up? Although he could not understand why Rodney had not just taken the data into his lab and that John had given it to him; he did not ask or have time to think as he simply did as he was told, gathering his team up around him.

John's next stop was to the infirmary. He had been bundled out there earlier by Doctor Keller who urgently saw to Teyla's messy leg, he was off to see how his Athosian friend was doing. She greeted him dreamily from a white crisp bed, the drugs still heavily dulling her body and mind. All she saw was a Sheppard-esque shape and thought she should wave, no other real coherent thoughts crossed her mind.

"Heya, how you feeling?" He asked, glad to see her awake again. She giggled in response and rolled her head in the pillow. Looks like Keller had been a little liberal with the Morphine again.

"I will be fine. You do not look hurt."

"No, but umm…yeah, I'll be ok." His expression was strangely twinged, and Teyla could not read it in her drugged up state.

"Where is Ronon?" She asked, oblivious to what happened.

"He…never made it back. The facility blew itself up before he got back. I barely made it out with you alive." He bowed his head and tried to hide his expression from her, which she took to be masculine concealment, and she choked a sob. "Another thing Teyla, Dr Keller asked me to tell you this but, you're pregnant." For a while the Athosian did not respond, she stared at John with an emotionally ambiguous, yet intense expression. From news of death to news of life was quite a topic change, but she thought little of it as the thoughts of a child now instinctively overwhelmed her mind."The trauma from the mission didn't do anything to hurt it though. I suppose congratulations are in order." He said awkwardly, patting her on the arm in the aforementioned congratulations.

###

TKCB: Heya, just wondering if some of my lovely readers would consider dropping me a review to let me know how they like it? A little feedback goes a long way! Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

"Ronon…? Ronon, wake up!" A voice gently urged him, and following its prompting, he smoothly traversed the slithering veil between dream and reality to see a kind and worried face looming over his. Slightly wrinkled eyes gleamed in relief as the Satedan opened his own. "Oh thank God! I had no idea what had happened, if you had been hit by a blaster or knocked out by a Wraith, or what but I just woke up here…"

"McKay, I have a headache." He said, using all the restraint he possessed not to tell him to just shut up outright.

"Sorry." The Canadian scientist whispered, showing consideration for Ronon's affliction. "Where's John? Teyla? I thought he'd have come for us in the puddle jumper by now." He asked innocently, thinking of multiple ways in which the Jumper would be in no state to come and get them, most involving Wraith Hive ships and fire.

"John…betrayed you. He had no intention of rescuing you, and as soon as I left the Jumper to come and get you, he had no intention of waiting for me and bringing us both back to Atlantis." Ronon spat sourly. Rodney blinked.

"He just left?"

"Yep. Just took the data that was apparently worth your life and went back to save Elizabeth." Rodney said nothing, he couldn't, he was too shocked. John had always come back for him, even when the situation seemed impossible and damn well near suicidal John had never left a man behind, let alone two. The Air Force colonel had been acting very strangely ever since Elizabeth was initially injured during the exile from Lantea, but this was just beyond the pale, and speaking of which, Rodney had just gone very pale indeed. "McKay?" He asked, concerned over the colour of his face, worried he was loosing blood somewhere.

"What's going to happen to us?" He asked, afraid.

"I'm not going back to Atlantis." He said defiantly.

"We don't have an IDC on me, I left it behind in case I couldn't make it back…" He faded away, breath getting heavier and coming close to hyperventilation. "How am I going to get home? I can't do this survival thing! And if Sheppard's not coming back of us…" He almost went into full hyperventilation when he thought of something. "I know! We can 'Gate to a friendly world, and use the IDC we sent them to get home." He said, clicking his fingers and smiling.

"You go, I'm not going back." Ronon said, still in shock and reactionary anger at the betrayal.

"But it could all…"

"I'm not going back. We should try and make it to the Gate."

"I don't have a gun, what if there are Wraith around?" He said, shit scared. Ronon exhaled slowly and pushed his temper away.

"We have to go, you're injured, you're weak from the Wraith feeding from you, and I can't just sit here and do nothing. We'll have to do this stealthily. The less attention we attract, the less chance of getting into a fight with them."

"Oh, but I thought you'd jump at a chance to get into a fight with Wraith?"

"Not at the moment, because it's not just my life on the line here." He said, turning his face towards Rodney as he said it, but not making eye contact.

"Thanks." He said quietly.

After much hobbling on Rodney's part, various rest stops and a lot of walking, they arrived several hours later near the Gate and it was getting dark. Rodney's feet were sore, his legs where aching, but he, for once, said nothing, not only because he knew it would attract unwanted Wraith attention, but because he didn't want to piss Ronon off. Of all the survivor types to be stuck on a Wraith-crawling world with, the Satedan was not at the top of Rondey's list, though he had been bolstered several major places in the fact that he came for the scientist, and no one else did.

"Wait here, keep watch." Ronon whispered very quietly in Rodney's ear, making his scratch it afterwards as the breath tickled him, and he could hear Ronon shimmied up the hill to get a look at the security detail by the Gate, and he kept his eyes peeled.

Ronon slid down the hill to jump up to his feet and look at Rodney with rather wild eyes.

"Oh God, what? How many are there? Five? Ten?!" He whimpered, shitting himself that even Ronon was scared.

"There is no Gate. It's gone. They might have taken it, or destroyed it." He murmured shakily. Rodney didn't even have time to react as they heard rustling, and the grunts of a few Wraith, and Ronon bolted instinctively, heading back towards the cave, Rodney following as best and as fast as he could.

By the time they had retraced their path back to the cave, it was well into the night, and extremely cold. Rodney was almost falling over with weakness and hunger, and he sort of slumped into the cave, Ronon helping to drag him further in. The Satedan went out once more to gather wood for fire, and Rodney used the lighter in his vest to get a small blur of warmth flowing. He hungrily snacked on a ration from his vest and _then_ had his mental breakdown.

"Oh God! What are we going to do? How am I going to survive?! It'll be fine for you, I bet you had to do all this stuff while your were a Runner, but I was never any good at even the scouts and stuff!" He panicked. "Do we wait until they send the Apollo? Will they?"

"I dunno, but there is only one thing to do."

"What could that possibly be?"

"Survive. Live to get off of here."

"To do what?"

"Look McKay." Ronon shifted his weight and turned to face Rodney, wearing his sincere face. Rodney bristled, he could tell Ronon was about to share something rather personal. "When I was Running, I didn't have a reason to live, no overriding purpose or aim. Just survive. Just live through the day to live through the next. Life is a special thing McKay, you have to honour it, by doing right and living with honour. That means living. You'll figure something our, you always do." He said, ending on a note of appreciation for Rodney's logical prowess.

###

TKCB: This has got to be my most popular story so far :D Glad so many people are enjoying it. Any suggestions/constructive criticisms are welcome and desired!

In response to my reviewers - thank you very much for getting back to me. I see what you mean about the rather radical OOC and somewhat poor consideration on my part. I am in the process of making some changes, and trying to dig myself out of a rather large hole I'm digging for myself, heh... Those changes will take this very AU. I haven't mentioned this before, but this takes place when the team go to the Replicator city to try and take Elizabeth back. They succeed in this universe, but strange things are going to start happening. Hope the changes will be better. Thanks again for your feedback :)


End file.
